Casting Call: Elliot Allagash

In which we suggest who should star in the next big adaptation, remake, or historical film.

When Saturday Night Live writer and frequent New Yorker contributor Simon Rich’s Elliot Allagash came out three years ago, we read it (in a couple of hours—it’s technically written for adults, but might as well be YA, in both the subject matter and length) and immediately thought two things: one, that it would be awfully easy to adapt for the screen; and two, that Jason Reitman should be the man to do it. Rich’s prose, like Reitman’s directing, is sharp, witty, and stylish; the story itself is a dark-but-not-too-dark satire, Reitman’s stock-in-trade.

Elliot Allagash tells the story of Seymour Herson, a pathetic and unpopular eighth-grader who’s taken under the wing of the title character, an eccentric billionaire teenager who’s recently transferred to his private school in Manhattan and who teaches Seymour everything there is to know about manipulation—while transforming him completely.

Reitman optionedAllagash the month after it came out, and there hasn’t been much movement on the project since—but since we’re hoping so dearly it comes to fruition, we’re taking the liberty of making a few suggestions for him.